It is so dismaying that the Weminuche bighorn population has dropped from 460 to 290 since 2011, especially when the target population is over 1,000 animals (Terry Meyers, Durango Herald, Jan. 29). Of particular concern is the Vallecito Creek Herd, a distinct part of the Weminuche population that has declined from 125 to 50. Bighorn herds less than 50 have a high likelihood of dying out completely. How did the San Juan National Forest get by with delaying action on its own risk assessment when it predicted that bighorns would succumb to respiratory diseases transmitted from domestic sheep on the Weminuche allotments? Contact between widely roaming bighorns and sheep is a death knell for the bighorns. Anyone who has been hiking in our high country for more than a decade will have noticed the loss of these iconic animals. Bighorns cannot adapt to domestic sheep. It is incumbent upon ranching operations to do the adapting and get sheep off public bighorn habitat so that our precious wildlife heritage is not lost.
Deb Paulson
Durango
